Kayaking around Port Matoon Island June 2006

Back in Canada

I've managed settled back into life here in Canada. Before leaving Swaziland I took a little trip in Mozambique and stayed for about a week and a half in Tofo village. Was able to complete my Open Water Diving certification in one of the worlds top diving locations. Because the place was quite remote I was the only one in the course.. but there were a few people who just hung around and went diving everday. Not a bad life at all.

However, I did bring home a little of Mozambique with me... It took a full day of travelling 10 hrs.. from Tofo to Maputo and then another 4 hrs to Manzini, Swazialand! I ended up leaving Swaziland on April 5th (the next day around lunch) and got back to Canada about 30 hrs later. I was feeling pretty good during the trip but about a day after getting back to Canada the water bourne parasite I picked up in Mozambique had decided to start messing up my stomache... I was never so sick in my life and after a day of.... "losing fluids" I had a job interview with the Halifax Regional Development Agency. After the job interview I had to hang out in town for a while but I ended up in the hospital for dehydration that eve!

Well I got the job with the HRDA and things are just fine these days. I've managed to squeeze a lot of kayaking and mountain biking into my schedule and even got a job as a kayak guide with Sea Sun Kayaks in Prospect...Lots of fun.

I've been slow to post and I'm not sure if I'll continue this since I'm not on the road anymore...


Cheers

This is the largest river in Swaziland... can't for the life of me remember the name but I'm in the back of the second boat. Lots of crazy class IV rapids, strong currents which pulled some girls shoes & shorts off during an unplanned swim, and waterfalls on this river.

Up close and personal.

Look closely here.... I'm glad I was in a car while passing these guys.

This elephant was HUGE! Big as a house and did a good job of scaring all the cars away.

Kruger National Game Park, South Africa

A major perk to volunteering in Southern Africa is all the opportunities to visit the great parks on the weekend. I spent 3 days at Kruger National Park in South Africa, which is one of the most famous game parks in the world. The size of this park is incredible it would take about 10 hours to drive from one end to the other and it's larger than a lot of African countries!

In the first 10 mins I saw giraffes, monkeys, and African Buffalo. The south end of the park is low-level plain, which are and were HOT on the day that I arrived. It must have been above 40 degrees making it uncomfortably hot driving in a car with the windows all open... made it something like a blow-dryer. Everything was much bigger than I expected in Kruger even the camps. The camps range in price from about $10 CAD - thousands per night... Needless to say, I got the $10 /night tenting spots. The main camps for people doing self-driving safari were all quite nice. Great restaurants and info kiosk the swimming pools were full of hot water... even with a constant stream of cold coming in.

Maybe I'm tired of typing but the pics say a thousand words.....

Typical Vistas in Malolotja. Trust me it might look like rolling hills but it's a tough hike!!! Most ridges are 4000 - 6000ft. Great park though lots of wildlife & other than the baboons pretty safe to hike around in with out the fear of getting attacked by wildlife :)

Inside Forbes Reef Mine. I'm in quite far here (maybe 250meters) and when I took this pic the bats started flying around. Quite creepy!!

Forbes Reef Gold Mine

If anything like this existed in Canada I'm sure there would be a big tourist trap associated i.e. lots of novelty products, permits or admission fees etc... but here the mine isn't advertised I was at Malolotja park for a day before I learned of the mines existence. It wasn't that difficult to find the mine but the signs were all faded and there was nothing legible written. But the trail was in good shape and after the 3 hrs I realized that I forgot my flashlight!!!! I was able to find some candles and was packing matches so I just walked inside. It was hard to fathom that the mine was actually 46,000 years old. Anything older than 200 yrs. is ancient in Canada so this was quite special.

The mineshaft was about 6 ft. by 4ft for the first couple hundred meters but as I got further back it kept getting narrower and shorter. The mine is home to a bat colony and it had a few different routes. When I took a couple pictures it bothered the bats and they started flying around and I admit that I bolted out of there when this happened.

I found three other mines, which were all about the same just shorter. It's still hard to believe that the mine has survived for so long. Other than that Malolotja had spectacular scenery. Herds of Zebra & Besbuit were all over the place especially close to the camp area. On my hike to the Malolotja falls I started to get stalked by a group of Baboons. I was walking in a valley and had to cross over a ridge to get to the waterfalls but the Baboons were keeping pace with me on the ridge above. As I started walking up the hillside the Baboons started barking and I could see some more coming over the top of the ridge to "greet me". None of the park staff warned me about Baboons but I've heard they will be violent and steal hikers backpacks for the food. I ended up just truing around and following another trail. I saw a lot of wildlife up close and personal on this hiking trip... sometimes too close for comfort.

Well I've been in Swaziland for about a month now and have started really adjusting to my new life.

Every morning I start my day in a meeting full of HIV nurses & counsellors. They all take turns facilitating a session on something to do with common health problems & counselling people with HIV. What makes this stuff real is walking down the street and picking out people with the symptoms we talked about. There are a lot of middle class Swazi's in Manzini and a huge mall that's just as nice as anything I've seen in Canada but the poverty is intense. About 50% of the population is unemployed and live out in the country. A lot of the time there is just an elderly grandmother raising her 5 - 10 grandkids. The typical story goes... mother dies of HIV and the father will either abandon the kids & / or die within a year of the mother.

It's quite disturbing to witness. There is so much info. around about HIV/ AIDS.. maybe there is too much. The TASC Sex show went on the road to some markets a couple weeks ago asking people about safe sex practices & some trying to get info on basic stuff about AIDS. Maybe it was the camera and nerves but 6 out of 10 were way off. There always seems to be a new remedy for curing HIV right now it's male circumcision will cure & prevent it.

I've been out with the Rural Community Response HIV Cousellors a few times & I wondered why there were "drivers" & a fleet of huge SUV's until I went out with them. It's always an adventure doing home visits in the rural communities since off the main highways there are no real roads in Swaziland you literally drive on the sides of mountains and on occasion just through open spots in the bush. Hearing stories about what's going on is hard enough but seeing some of the poverty and children dying makes everything hit home. There is a legit program that just started here called "Young Heroes", www.youngheroes.org.sz it's an initiative by the National Emergency Council on HIV/AIDS (NERCHA), & seeks to inspire teenagers in the affluent West to sponsor orphans. If anything I would suggest you check out the site it's got some stories & pics and has a good stategy to keep families together.


Other than work I've been having a good time getting out of Manzini on the weekends. I'm getting pretty good at finding my way around Swaziland. It's not that hard to travel by kombi but it can be confusing at times. The Kombi Rink has hundreds of vans and thousands of people going everywhere. Last weekend I hiked though a game park and saw a hippo eating, tons of Wildebeest, & Impala (deer like animals). Actually, hippo's are the most dangerous animals in Africa and kill more humans than any other big animal. The hiking is wonderful & trails are great. I hiked up to the top of Execution mountain which you can guess was the site of many executions. People believed to be witches and warlocks were given a little bit of a choice they could lean back and be stabbed with a spear or jump off the cliff which has a about a 2000 foot drop. On the bright side if someone lived they were set free. Despite this horrible history it had a great view & when I was on top even a rainbow in the valley below.

Meeting in Ngomazie. Not a bad place for a meeting... the only dangerous thing about this is the falling Mango's.

Top of Execution Rock in the Mlilwanie Wildlife Park. It took a couple hours to get to the top... but it was worth the effort.

Soweto, South Africa. This is the largest township in South Africa with a population of 4 million. I'm actually standing outside the childhood house of Nelson Mandeal. Two Nobel Peace prize winners grew up on this block.

Picture of Swaziland! This is just outside Manzini.

10,000 Shoes & 5,000 questions

So far life in Manzini is pretty sweet. My apartment is central to pretty much everything I would ever need to access and the temp. is very moderate (avg. 23 - 28 in the daytime and about 15 at night) however, it's 35 right now!!! The people here are wonderful and despite having to go home before dark on the nights when I don’t have access to a backkie there is plenty of opportunity to socialize after work. I ended up buying a TV & DVD player and a cell phone the other day (268) 623-1978.

I've been working for 2 weeks now and I'm learning lots about international aid to NGO's here. One story I thought was worth sharing revolves around a corporate donation of Nike tennis shoes to the Manzini Youth Centre. World Vision will often drop off a container of stuff to the youth centre, which cares for about 400 orphan boys between the ages of 5 - 12. A friend of mine who works there talked about his first day about a year and a half ago when a truck dropped off container with a huge WV stamp on the side. To his surprise he would have to suspend his regular duties as a social worker to sort out these shoes most of which were size 12 and higher! From that day on he has been asked a minimum of 10 - 40 times per day about how someone can get a pair of Nike tennis shoes. The shoes have caused such a commotion in town that the kids who got a pair have been mugged, been in fights, and even stabbed for their pair of bright white tennis shoes. To add more to this story the shoes are manufactured defects and all pretty much fall apart once they get wet. Swaziland has pretty intense thunderstorms and showers almost everyday during the rainy season. So less than 25% of the shoes have been given out because maybe 12 Swazis can wear size 11 + shoes and questions are still bombard the Manzini Youth Centre. The director has gotten so fed up that he actually welded the container shut and just waited for the next World Vision drop-off to give them back. This week everyone was glad to accept a new container from World Vision until they opened it and found 10,000 bras and stockings!

It's easy to criticize World Vision for their logistical flops but they do occasional drop off things that the centre needs and uses quite a bit. I think this problem stems more from the muti-national companies who are clearing their warehouses of crap they can't sell to anyone and decide to pack it all up for a World Vision donation for the tax write off & space. If you’re a Seinfield fan this may remind you of the "Muffin bottom donations" ;)

Usakos, Namibia. One of my fav. pics this is in the Kalahari Desert edge & it's green this time of year because it's the rainy season.

I helped slaughter a goat while traveling in Namibia. Poor thing didn't stand a chance :( I'm not a vegetarian yet but getting close. After you skin the goat it's important to wash it and leave it to dry in the sun.